The Russian Athletic Federation's 2021 debt to World Athletics has been completely paid, it has been claimed ©Getty Images

The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) has now paid off its complete debt to World Athletics for 2021, its acting President, Irina Privalova, has claimed.

Russia's official state news agency TASS has reported Privalova today as saying: "Yesterday, money for the fourth quarter was transferred.

"Thus, all debts for the past year to the international federation are closed."

Privalova, who still holds the women’s 60 metres world record of 6.92sec, told TASS on March 18 that the debt for the third quarter of 2021 had been paid off, adding:

"Everything possible is also being done to close the debts for the fourth quarter as quickly as possible."

World Athletics is currently unable to confirm whether the third or fourth quarter payments have been received.

On March 11 World Athletics announced it had imposed a deadline of March 18 for the repayment of costs incurred by its Russian Taskforce in its continuing efforts to reinstate RusAF after the November 2015 ban imposed following revelations of state-sponsored doping.

Irina Privalova, acting President of the Russian Athletics Federation, has claimed all debts owing to World Athletics from 2021 have now been paid ©RusAF
Irina Privalova, acting President of the Russian Athletics Federation, has claimed all debts owing to World Athletics from 2021 have now been paid ©RusAF

These related to the third and fourth quarters of 2021, and Taskforce chair Rune Andersen warned, "World Athletics and I have received assurances from RusAF and the Russian Sports Minister that the two outstanding invoices will be paid next week.

"Should this not happen by Friday March 18 then World Athletics has made clear to RusAF there will be no scope for World Athletics to continue to finance the reinstatement process.

"As a consequence, the reinstatement process will have to be suspended which would include, crucially, stopping the work of the Russia Taskforce and also the international experts.

"This will not only impact RusAF as an organisation and the steps it has taken so far towards reinstatement but all the work that has gone into the reinstatement plan, KPIs (key performance indicators), milestones and post-reinstatement conditions will be lost."

RusAF was said to have agreed to the deadline, but last Thursday (March 17) it emerged that the March 18 deadline was being viewed as flexible given disruptions to the Russian banking system following Western sanctions in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.

Since its initial ban, the RusAF has had its suspension extended more than 15 times, but Andersen’s recommendation to continue working towards reinstatement was accepted by the World Athletics Council despite the imposition of a ban on Russian and Belarus athletes "for the foreseeable future" in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.